Etudes Non Stop Study Non Stop
Related Articles
QUSTEC offers the interdisciplinary, intersectoral and international training in the field of quantum science and technologies (QST) to 39 early-stage researchers. Only 14 PhD positions listed below out of 39 are still open for applications.
The coordinator of the programme is the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Eucor – The European Campus, the alliance of five universities located in the cross-border research area of Upper Rhine.
For QUSTEC, the Eucor Members University of Basel, University of Freiburg, University of Strasbourg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology are joined by IBM-Research in Zurich.
The QUSTEC training programme is in line with the European Charter for Researchers, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers and the EU Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training. At the application stage, candidates can choose up to three PhD projects and after the successful selection process will be enrolled in a doctoral programme of one of the partaking universities. Their applications will be evaluated in an open, transparent, merit-based procedure based on international peer review.
All fellows will be offered a 4-year employment contract with the corresponding social security provisions. An individual panel in a three-tier training programme will supervise them.
The scientific focus of the programme lies on the six scientific areas of quantum electronics, artificial quantum systems, quantum nano-devices, non-equilibrium quantum systems, quantum resources, and quantum simulation. The COFUND financial support serves as a nucleus for the early-stage research career training, create synergies among the partner institutions and contribute to Europe’s leadership role in the emerging field of QST.
The topics currently open for applications are the following:
– 1.A Multi-qubit gates for the efficient exploration of Hilbert space with superconducting qubit systems, IBM Research – Zurich
– 1.B Charge noise and coherence of hole spins in group-IV QD devices, IBM Research – Zurich
– 1.F Understanding and engineering microscopic sources of noise in solid-state quantum devices, IBM Research – Zurich
– 1.G Quantum-coherent microwave-optical conversion, IBM Research – Zurich
– 1.H Gate-based sensing of spin qubits, IBM Research – Zurich
– 1.I Study of thermal transport in low-dimensional materials, University of Basel
– 2.A Casimir Forces in Superconducting Systems, University of Basel
– 2.E Wave packet interference experiments for the investigation of ultrafast dynamics and decoherence effects on the attosecond time scale, University of Freiburg
– 3.E Quantum critical Kondo lattices of molecular spins probed by scanning tunnelling microscopy, KIT
– 3.I Experimental studies of molecular qubits and implementation of optical read-out schemes based on single- and entangled photon sources, KIT
– 4.C Theory and simulation of nonequilibrium dynamics in many-body quantum systems, University of Freiburg
– 5.A Hybrid quantum networks with atomic memories and quantum dot single-photon sources, University of Basel
– 5.B Solid-state spins in an optical cavity, University of Basel
– 5.C Development of quantum technologies for molecular systems: quantum sensing of molecular and chemical properties, University of Basel
The QUSTEC programme has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 847471.
Eligibility and requirements
QUSTEC has two main eligibility criteria:
1) Required level of experience is ‘Early Stage Researcher’ according to the definition in the 2018-2020 work programme of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions: Applicants must, at the date of the respective call deadline of QUSTEC, be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and have not yet been awarded a doctoral degree.
2) Mobility criterion: The ESR must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the future host organisation for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline of QUSTEC. Short stays such as holidays are not taken into account. For refugees under the Geneva Convention, the refugee procedure (i.e. before refugee status is conferred) will not be counted as a period of residence/activity in the country of the host organisation.
Excellent MSc degree or equivalent is required, with the grades falling within top 15% of respective national system.
Excellent skills and knowledge in quantum science and technology are expected, as shown by a Master & Bachelor degree in relevant scientific fields of physics, chemistry, materials or computation.
Application and selection process
The applications shall be submitted exclusively via an electronic platform https://www.eucor-uni.org/en/qustec/application-information/apply/.
The selection and evaluation process of QUSTEC follows the principles of the H2020 Grants Manual regarding Excellence, Transparency, Fairness and Impartiality, Efficiency, Speed, Ethics and Security.
The written evaluation of the applications will be carried out by two independent external evaluators.
Once a candidate has passed the 70% threshold of the written evaluation, an oral evaluation (interview) will be carried out by a panel of the future potential supervisor, one independent expert who previously assessed the CV, and one partner organisation representative. At least one member of the selection panel will be a woman. Interviews will be carried out either via the teleconferencing system.
More information is in the Guide for applicants on the QUSTEC-website (https://www.eucor-uni.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/QUSTEC_Guide_for_applicants_v2.1.pdf)
The participating member universities of the EGTC Eucor and the partner institutions also adhere to Charter and Code for the recruitment and employment of researchers and have extensive experience in recruiting researchers.
Benefits of participation in the programme
The set-up of our programme is inherently international due to the cross-border setup of the EGTC Eucor. All involved partner organisations from both academia and industry and all individual researchers engaged in the QUSTEC programme have a wide international network which will be beneficial for the ESRs.
QUSTEC is essentially interdisciplinary through the wide range of the research topics. We further encourage ESRs and the supervision team to explore any upcoming interdisciplinary elements of their research topics. Quantum Science and Technologies as a research field is rooted in several disciplines and applies concepts from physics, chemistry, engineering and computer sciences.
All of our ESRs will be required to carry out a mandatory secondment at the indicated partner organisation. With this, we will train them to work and learn in another than their ‘home’ environment, and in many cases a non-academic research environment with the objective to improve ERSs post-graduate employability. This mandatory element of training enhances the intersectoral component of QUSTEC.
